Saturday, 1 July 2017

Media Misinformation

It is quite staggering the amount of media misinformation that can be found even through incidental reading these days. This should come as no surprise to smokers and vapers who are well used to the amount of clickbait spouting downright lies that has been fed to the mainstream MSM by the tax-sponging public health 'charities' and organisations to justify their continued funding.

As I write this blog, an article has just been shown on BBC Breakfast 'celebrating' 10 years of the smoking ban. It contains the usual contrived figures from the like of Deborah Arnott and Cancer Research UK stating that 10 years ago there were 10 million smokers and now there are only 8 million smokers - proving the success of their prohibitionist policies (according to them). Of course they make no mention of the fact that there are now 3 million Vapers in the UK since the smoking ban was introduced. Look at those figures I just quoted and tell me there is no correlation as to what is the REAL reason that smoking has reduced. In fact, the only person who acknowledged that ecigarettes had played any part in this reduction in smoking at all was Paul Cosford of Public Health England - and even he was claiming that the main benefit of ecigarettes was in cutting down smoking rates among the young. Furthermore, there were no voices of opposition consulted in the report. I am amazed that FOREST were not consulted at all in the report other than an acknowledgement of their recent Road To Ruin report about how many pubs have closed around the country.

Yesterday, I read an article in The Morning Advertiser (the pub trade magazine) which showed an incredible lack of understanding on what the law is around vaping in pubs. The article can be read here, but the part that really stood out is this

I do not know who advised The Morning Advertiser on the rules surrounding ecigarettes, but they are not very good at their jobs.

For those not sure of the current law, there is NO requirement for ecigarettes (or components) to be approved by the MHRA. All that is required is that all ecigarettes (and components) have to be compliant with the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) that came into force on 20th May 2017.

The MHRA are not involved at all in the control of ecigarettes unless that product range is making a medical/medicinal claim. For that to happen, the product has to go through a rigorous (and expensive) testing/approval program by the MHRA before it is put on the approved list. To date, there is only ONE product that has undergone this procedure (a product owned, ironically, by a tobacco company) and been successful. That product has still (to the best of my knowledge) been placed on the market. Vape products not making medicinal/medical claims are NOT required to go through this process.

Is it any wonder that pubs are so confused as to what the law is regarding vaping when their own trade organisations/publications cannot get their facts right in regard to the law ?

Another (unrelated) article that caught my attention appeared in the prohibitionist Labour-supporting Trinity Mirror rag known as Walesonline - which is the online version of the Welsh newspaper known as The Western Mail. The article in question focusses on the town of Tonypandy and is all about why the South Wales Valleys 'hubs' (i.e. shopping centres) have suffered such terminal decline and what can be done to revive them.

But apparently, the sure signs that such a hub is in trouble is

and

So, according to this sorry rag, if a shopping centre has ecigarette stores, then that is a sure sign that it is in trouble and in desperate need of revitalisation. Never mind that ecigarette stores enable smokers to make the choice to switch to a safer alternative of consuming nicotine, never mind that those same ecigarette stores have a far greater success rate (and bigger custom) than any of the government-run Stop Smoking Wales shops that can also be found in such places, and never mind that those ecigarette stores have helped deliver the biggest reduction in Welsh smoking rates that has ever been seen. Nope according to this rag, the appearance of ecigarette stores is a detrimental sign in any shopping community and are 'undesirable'. 'Undesirable' to whom exactly ? If they were 'undesirable' they would not be flourishing.

Of the course, the same rag does NOT recognise that those same 'deprived', 'depressed' and 'failing' shopping hubs are ALL in Labour-controlled areas. That those places have ALWAYS been Labour-controlled areas. That those areas have been left to rot and decay by the (so called party of the working man) Labour party. Nope, Walesonline is a true red Labour supporting paper so the Labour party is NOT to blame for the decline, but that terrible scourge known as the ecigarette IS the cause.

Little wonder that same Labour party tried (unsuccessfully) to ban the use of ecigarettes in enclosed public spaces. It is also the same Labour party that brought in the smoking ban 10 years ago and started the long decline of these areas as one by one the bingo halls, the snooker halls, the working mens clubs and of course the pubs - all of which are social hubs which brought custom into these areas - closed down.

The article goes on to make many other excuses about why the retail businesses closed down, whilst the bigger names moved out for the more lucrative city centres like Cardiff, but completely fails (or more likely refuses) to acknowledge that first and foremost such places have always been SOCIAL hubs. Without the businesses which give that social aspect (i.e. the pubs, clubs, bingo/snooker halls), there is little to attract people to come to them. THAT is the fault of the smoking ban.

Like I stated at the beginning of this article, the misinformation from the MSM is quite simply unbelievable. It is no wonder that people are turning to other sources to find the REAL news.

About Me

I was born in Wales way back in the year of 1963. I am bilingual - fluent in both Welsh and English - but can also lay claim to having some limited conversational abilities in French, Dutch and German.
My favourite sport is Rugby Union, which I played for more than 30 years until forced to retire due to injury. Consequently, I am a bit bigger than your average guy in that I am 6 foot tall and currently weigh 170lbs.
I am an accomplished musician having played in several brass bands and orchestras, therefore I can play a multitude of musical instruments.